When aircraft in the bomber stream were attacked by flak or fighters, sometimes they would slowly go down in flames, as the crew took to their parachutes, or go into deep dives from which there was no escape.
Either way there would be a record, and graves.
At other times, the crews would disappear into the North Sea, or blow up over the target if the 6,000-plus pounds of explosive in the bomb bay was hit and detonated. Nothing would be heard again.
Here-in lies our story.
Donald Grant Goodfellow was from the Brighton area, along the north shore of Lake Ontario. He grew up in Mt. Olivet, near Codrington, the son of Lewis, and Clara.
We are fortunate to know a lot about him, thanks to the excellent website.
He was deeply proud of his Scottish roots — his forebears had settled the area in the mid-19th century where apple orchards became a major source of revenue.
After his education, Donald became a teacher, finding work at the high school level in Percy and Thurlow townships. War began, and by 1941, Goodfellow had chosen the air force.
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan sent him on a merry chase, through Initial Training (Victoriaville), Air Observer (L’Ancienne-Lorette), Bombing and Gunnery (Mont-Joli), and advanced navigation (Rivers, Manitoba).
Out the other end came a Sergeant Observer, capable of taking either navigation or bomb-aimer roles.
When he went overseas, Goodfellow wound up with No. 434 Squadron as a bomb aimer on the crew of Frank Carter, who was on his second tour of operations.
Donald was either very lucky, or accident prone, because he had survived two plane crashes by this point. One was at Rivers (rib injury), the other at Operational Training involving a ditch in the Irish Sea, and some time in a rubber dinghy.
There certainly were better times to arrive on squadron – just as the long, dark, dangerous Battle of Berlin was starting – a 19-raid stretch lasting from August of 1943 to March of 1944.
Losses were nearly catastrophic – almost 500 bombers gone, near-on a thousand damaged, more than 2.600 crewmen dead.
Missing many of the early attacks on Berlin as they hit other targets, the Carter crew eventually had two successful runs on the German capital by the time February 15 came along.
Rain and fog had hung around all day, and by the time Carter (now a Squadron Leader) took Halifax V (LK 971 – Y-York) off at 1713 hours from Croft, north Yorkshire, he had been told to head for alternative landing fields in the south of England on return. It was a huge raid, 891 aircraft despatched, with 43 lost.
The Carter crew simply disappeared. They may have fallen into the sea, or blown up near the target, where witnesses reported seeing fireballs in the night.
Per Ardua ad Astra to the brave team of Carter, Goodfellow, William McPherson, Joseph (Jerry) Blanchard, Spurgeon Jenkins, E. Forde, W. Wood, and John (Jack) Wheeler.
Shortly after this, word came through that Goodfellow had earned a promotion from Warrant Officer, to Pilot Officer.
The crew is remembered on the Air Forces War Memorial, Runnymede, west of London. Over 20,000 airmen and women who have no known graves are listed by name. Donald is also honoured on the Brighton cenotaph.
